Over the past month, XLF has outpaced the S&P 500 a solid margin, rising half a percent as the benchmark U.S. index is off 0.8%. However, that is not nearly enough to erase XLF’s long run of lagging the broader market. [Long Road to Recovery for Bank ETFs]
“Despite spectacular bull markets on Wall Street, excess liquidity and historically low interest rates, US banks are currently near 75-year lows versus the S&P 500 index,” according to a note from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML). XLF would need to rise almost 64% to reclaim its pre-financial crisis highs.
Investors have pulled $2.3 billion from XLF this year.
Financial Select Sector SPDR
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post.